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Monday, May 9, 2011

Join us for BAD RAP/BACS Pit Ed Open House - this Saturday, May 14

If you've heard about "BAD RAP class" at the shelter and would like to see for yourself what it's all about, this Saturday will be a great chance for you to come have a look.

We have class every weekend, but this Saturday's class will be a special one. It will be one of our Open House classes where we hope to get as many people as possible to come watch, learn, and meet the dogs. BACS pitties will be prominent co-stars of the occasion!

BAD RAP's pit ed classes have been gaining a lot of visibility. Thanks to a lot of good publicity and tireless educational/outreach efforts, BAD RAP has been attracting lots of fans nationwide. The pit ed classes - conducted just down the street from our shelter - are one of their most popular activities. Read BAD RAP's blog or Facebook pages to see how many people in communities all across the country wish they had this type of program.

The added interest has also increased the number of BACS volunteers who are interested in attending class. This means that lots of BACS pitties have been going to class with devoted volunteers. The dogs learn manners and basic obedience, gain socialization, and they get to be seen by potential adopters.

Most of our pits started out life as strays or neglected backyard dogs, and arrived at the shelter not knowing a leash from a ham sandwich. But thanks to hard work from our volunteers and our partnership with BAD RAP, many of them are now out showing off their skills at class, helping change the public's perceptions of pit bulls, and eventually heading on to become happy family pets.

I hope you can make it, and bring a friend. It should be fun for everyone!

Here are some pictures from our last Open House, back in October. The weather was lousy but we had a good turnout.

Doors opening

Ruby, David, and Ruby's adopters

Ruby was adopted by this couple who had come from Petaluma to check out the open house. That's David with her, who had been taking her to class for quite some time. This is NOT the dog behavior we encourage at class, but we're willing to let things slide when we have an adoption to celebrate.

Johnny Justice

Former Vick dog Johnny Justice (now a trained therapy dog) was on hand to wow the crowd with his tricks. This guy is a real ham.

Advanced class

Tim Racer from BAD RAP leads the advanced class through drills. You can see the nice crowd in the background.

Bella

Bella celebrates a successful drill by high-fiving her volunteer, Larry. Bella recently found a home and her adopters have been bringing her to class. Maybe we'll see her again this week...

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This blog is brought to you by the devoted volunteers of Berkeley Animal Care Services, also known as BACS. BACS is a municipal shelter servicing the cities of Berkeley, Emeryville, Albany and Piedmont in the San Francisco East Bay.